Building on an institution-wide strategic initiative to interpret the process of science for informal learners of all ages, the Museum of Science will work over four years to develop, evaluate and implement a project to communicate the processes of science through weather forecasting. The project is based on the idea that processes involved in short-term weather forecasting are basic to the process of science. MOS proposes to create a 1,800 square foot exhibit, programs for students and teachers, an interactive website, and one-minute television spots aimed at helping people understand weather forecasting. The project is grounded in MOS strategic commitment to engaging people in the activity of science and the use of new technologies. The major component of the project is an exhibition of weather in which visitors will learn how to forecast the weather over the next few hours using different levels of technology, including naked eye observations, data from weather maps, and real-time images from space satellites and ground radar stations. Ancillary programs include educational materials for over 100 WeatherNet schools in New England, an interactive website that will reach several hundred thousand users, and television spots on the process of weather forecasting to be aired on WBZ-TV Channel 4. Over the course of its life the project will engage several million children and adults in the process of science.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Cary SneiderMishelle MichaelsDaniel Barstow
The WGBH Educational Foundation and the NOVA production team will produce an hour-long special program in the NOVA series on the remarkable scientific response to Supernova 1987A, the most significant supernova to be observed since 1604. Responding rapidly to this unique opportunity, they will capture the spirit of science in formation, through video and audio interviews with many of the involved research scientists in their laboratories and observatories around the world during the critical time period when there are as many questions as answers about the event. They will continue to cover the scientific response into the summer and early fall, including scientific meetings that are expected to provide clarification and explanation of the supernova's behavior. They are responding with insight and speed to a rare opportunity, and will match National Science Foundation funds with $300,000 of their own production funds to produce this program. NSF support will be used to insure that the coverage land treatment of the event will be substantive and accurate, and rich enough in detail to illustrate the processes of scientific discovery, research cooperation, and debate and dialogue that leads to understanding. The resulting program will be seen by the more than 12 million viewers of the NOVA series, as well as by tens of thousands of classrooms in high schools and colleges. Educational materials will be produced to accompany the program. An award of $50,000 for FY87 is recommended.
This report details the summative evaluation of the Flight of the Butterflies IMAX film. Four focus with a total of 39 participants took part. They watched the film in either 2D or 3D. The St. Louis Science Center, where the film was presented in large 2D format, hosted two focus groups with adults (n=19). The Maryland Science Center (MSC) in Baltimore, which showed the film in 3D format, hosted one focus group with adults (n=8) and another with middle school age students (n=12). All participants were recruited through the science center membership lists. The focus group began with initial
Using a kind of dynamic film, Latour analyzes three recent moments in the history of science and technology, involving John Whittaker of the Pasteur Institute, Watson and Crick and Tom West of Data General. Text in Portuguese.